Prologue -- The era -- The start of a lifelong journey -- A child's world -- Life like in a cocoon -- The life of a man is as a flower's -- God, science, and art -- Child of the light -- The whole world in one city -- To Suriname! -- So much never-before-seen life -- Journey's end -- Chronology -- Select bibliography -- Illustrations.

This book tells the story of an extraordinary scientist and artist who was born in the middle of the seventeenth century. Maria Sibylla Merian collected, observed, and sketched caterpillars and butterflies and their forage plants at a time when such interests might well have led to her being suspected of witchcraft rather than admired for her intelligence. In 1699 she set off on an adventurous journey of discovery into the rain forest of Suriname.

With this inimitable clarity and an informative selection of pictures, Boris Friedwald tells the story of Maria Sibylla Merian's breathtaking life, getting close to the heart of a wonderful metamorphosis in a sensitive manner.